1And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, [that] the word of the LORD came to Zechariah in the fourth [day] of the ninth month, [even] in Chisleu; 2When they had sent to the house of God Sherezer and Regemmelech, and their men, to pray before the LORD, 3[And] to speak to the priests who [were] in the house of the LORD of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years? 4Then came the word of the Lord of hostes vnto me, saying, 5Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh [month], even those seventy years, did ye at all fast to me, [even] to me? 6And when ye ate, and when ye drank, did ye not eat [for yourselves], and drink [for yourselves]? 7[Should ye] not [hear] the words which the LORD hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and her cities around her, when [men] inhabited the south and the plain? 8And the worde of the Lord came vnto Zechariah, saying, 9Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and show mercy and compassions every man to his brother: 10And oppresse not the widowe, nor the fatherles, the stranger nor the poore, & let none of you imagine euil against his brother in your heart. 11But they refused to hearken, and withdrew the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear. 12Yea, they made their hearts [as] an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts. 13Therefore it is come to passe, that as he cried, and they would not heare, so they cried, and I would not heare, sayth the Lord of hostes. 14But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate.